Web holder for high speed quilting and knitting machine



Jan. 26, 1965 v. SVOBODA ETAL WEB HOLDER FOR HIGH SPEED QUILTING AND KNITTING MACHINE Filed April 23, 1962 United States Patent Ofifrce 3,156,921 Patented Jan. 26, 1965 3,166,921 WEB HOLDER FOR HIGH SPEED QUILTING AND 7' KNITTING MACHINE Vladimir Svoboda, Vaclav ()pati'il, and Alois Kuhelka, all of Brno, Czechoslovakia, assignors to Sdruzenr podniku textilniho strojirenstvi, Liberec, Czechoslovakia Filed Apr. 23, 1962, Ser. No. 189,580 Claims priority, application Czechoslovakia, Apr. 28,

1961, 2,622/61 v 7 Claims. (Cl. 66-84) In the course of the manufacture of non-woven textile products on quilting and knitting 'machines, the worked fleece is guided over the web holder, where the oscillating needles, quilting and knitting the fleece by means of a system of warp threads, pass between the teeth of said web holder. The web holder performs in the course of this operation an oscillating movement in the direction of the supply of the fleece, i.e. a movement substantially perpendicular to the movement of the quilting and knitting needles. This oscillating movement of the web holder is required in order to enable to pull the loops of the warp thread formed by the quilting and knitting needles into the fleece. For up to date quilting and knitting machines, the web holder can have a width of several metres.

In presently known quilting and knitting machines the web holder has been supported in rocking fashion by a shaft, driving the laying devices and actuated only by two arms fixed on both ends of the web holder. This arrangement had the drawback that in case of an increased operating speed of the machine substantial vibrations have been produced not only of the web holder but also of the shaft driving the laying devices. Forthese reasons it is at present impossible towgrk the quilting and knitting machines at higher speeds than 500 revolutions per minute.

In order to enable to maintain or to. increase the workpiece width and in order to increase the working speed of the machine, it has been found necessary to redesign due to the said drawbacks both the arrangement and the drive of the web holder.

The object of this invention is therefore an arrangement and a drive of the web holder of high speed quilting and knitting machines where the web holder is supported by a number of supporting arms on support means permitting angular movement of the arms about an axis parallel to the web holder. The axis is located in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the quilting and knitting needles and through the axis of a shafttransmitting the drive to the laying device. The bearings supporting said supporting arms are advantageously arranged in brackets common to bearings of the shaft driving the laying devices which is supported by the machine frame. The web holder is furthermore driven by a crank mechanism of known design, linked by driving rods with the extreme supporting arms of the web holder.

Further advantages and features of this invention will be apparent from the following specification and from drawings where FIG. 1 is an elevation of an embodiment of the arrangement and drive of the web holder according to this invention,

FIG. la is a cross-section taken on line 1a--1a in FIG. 2b,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the web holder removed, and

FIGS. 2a and 2b are fragmentary plan views illustrating two operational positions of the machine.

As in all known quilting and knitting machines, the Worked fleece 1 is guided between the web holder 2 and the knock-over comb 3; while the web holder 2 performs an oscillating movement in the direction of the supply of the fleece i.e. substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the quilting and knitting needles 4, the knock over comb 3 is stationary. The quilting and knitting needles 4 perform the quilting and knitting of the fleece 1 by a system of warp threads in a way known per se using laying devices known to those skilled in the art. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and la, the web holder 2 is secured to a bar 20, and-has a support portion 2a of angular cross section, reinforced by ribs 2b, and terminating in a comb-like portion formed by teeth 2c. When needles 4 advance from the retracted position shown in FIG. 2a to the advancedposition shown in FIG. 2b, they pass through the aligned spaces between the teeth of web holder 2 and of comb 3. The web holder 2 is supported by a system of forked angularly supporting arms 5, as shown in FIG. 2 having portions fixed on the shaft 7 by pins 6 and extending at an angle to the portions of arms 5 which are fixed to the web holder 2 so that shaft 7 is located in the plane of the needles 4. The shaft 7 is rotatably supported in bearings 8 on brackets 9, fixed on the machine frame 10. There are furthermore bearings 11 on said bnackets 9 for the shaft 12, which drives in a known way the laying devices, which put the warp threads into the hooks of the quilting and knitting needles 4. The arrangement of the bearings 8 and 11 is such, that their axes are in a plane defined by the longitudinal axis of the quilting and knitting needles 4.

The ends of supporting arms 5 are extended by rods 13 and linked by studs 14 with the connecting rods 15 of a rotating crank shaft 16. This crank shaft 16 transmits to the web holder 2 an oscillating movement around the longitudinal axis of the shaft 7 in the direction of the supply of the fleece, i.e. in the direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the quilting and knitting needles 4. I

Due to the circumstance that the web holder 2 is within its whole width supported by a number of supporting arms 5, no unwelcome vibrations are experienced-even at high operating speeds, which vibrations have been transmitted in known constructions also to the shaft 12 driving the laying devices not shown, which caused frequently a wrong laying of the warp threads into the needle hooks, or the falling out of the loops from the needles 4.

We claim:

1. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination, an elongated web holder; a plurality of arm means secured to said web holder spaced along the length of the same and transversely projecting from the same; support means for supporting said arm means for angular movement about an axis parallel to said web holder; and drive means located spaced from said axis and operable for angularly reciprocating said arm means and said web holder.

2. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination, an elongated web holder; a plurality of arm means secured to said web holder spaced along the length of the same and transversely projecting from the same; support means for supporting said arm means for angular movement about an axis parallel to said web holder; drive means located spaced from said axis and operable for angularly reciprocating said arm means and said Web holder; a main drive shaft for the laying devices of the machine mounted on said supporting means, said main drive shaft having an axis defining with said axis a plane crossing said web holder and adapted to pass longitudinally through the needles of the machine.

3. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination an elongated web holder; a plurality of arm means secured to the said web holder spaced along the length of the same and transversely projecting from the same; a shaft secured to the ends of said arm means remote from said web holder and extending parallel to the same; support means for supporting said shaft for angular movement; and drive means located spaced from said shaft and operable for angularly reciprocating said arm means and said web holder.

4. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination an elongated web holder; a plurality of arm means secured to the said web holder spaced along the .length of the same and transversely projecting from the same in one direction; a shaft secured to the ends of said arm means remote from said Web holder and extending parallel to the same; support means for supporting said shaft forangular movement; rod means rigidly connected to :at least one of said arm means and projecting from the region of said web holder in a direction opposite to said one direction; and drive means connected to the end of said rod means for angularly reciprocating said arm means with said shaft so as to reciprocate said web holder in the plane of a web.

5. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination an elongated web holder; a plurality of arm means having first ends secured to the said web holder spaced along the length of the same and transversely projecting from the same in one direction; a shaft secured to the other ends of said arm means remote from said Web holder and extending parallel to the same; support means for supporting said shaft for angular movement; rod means rigidly connected to said first ends of at least some of said arm means and projecting from the region of said Web holder in a direction opposite to said one'direction; and drive means including a rotary member and connecting rod means connecting said rotary member with the end of said rod means for angularly reciprocating said arm means with said shaft so as to reciprocate said web holder in the plane of a web.

6. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination an elongated web 4 holder; a plurality of arm means secured to the said web holder spaced alongv the length of the same and transversely projecting from the same; a shaft secured to the ends of said arm means remote from said web holder and extending parallel to the same; support means for supporting said shaft for angular movement; a main'drive shaft for the laying devices of the machine mounted on said supporting means, said main drive shaft extending parallel to said shaft, the axes of said shafts defining a plane crossing said web holder; a set of reciprocable needles located in said plane and adapted to move through said web holder and a web held by the same; and drive means located spaced from said shaft and operable for angularly reciprocating said arm means and said Web holder.

7. A web holder arrangement for a quilting and knitting machine, comprising, in combination an elongated web holder; a plurality of angular arm means having first and second arm portions, said first arm portions having first ends secured to the said web holder spaced along the length of the same and tnansversely projecting from the same in one direction; a shaft secured to the ends of the second arm portions of said angular arm means remote from said web holder and extending parallel to the same; support means for supporting said shaft for angular movement; a main drive shaft for the laying devices of the machine mounted on said supporting means, said main drive shaft extending parallel to said shaft, the axes of said shafts defining a plane crossing said web holder; a set of reciprocable needles located in said plane and adapted to move through said web holder and a web held by the same; rod means rigidly connected to said first ends of said first arm portions of the arm means which are located at the ends of said elongated webholder and projecting from the region of said Web holder in a direction opposite to said one direction; and drive means connected to the ends of said rod means for angularly reciprocating said arm means with said shaft so as to reciprocate said web holder in the plane of a web.

References (Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,672,674 3/54 Shaw 2872.2 2,890,579 6/59 Mauersberger 66-192 3,030,786 4/62 Mauersberger 66-84 RUSSELL C. MADER, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner. 

1. A WEB HOLDER ARRANGEMENT FOR A QUILTING AND KNITTING MACHINE, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED WEB HOLDER; A PLURALITY OF ARM MEANS SECURED TO SAID WEB HOLDER SPACED ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE SAME AND TRANSVERSELY PROJECTING FROM THE SAME; SUPPORT MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID ARM MEANS FOR ANGULAR MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO SAID WEB HOLDER; AND DRIVE MEANS LOCATED SPACED FROM SAID AXIS AND OPERABLE FOR ANGULARLY RECIPROCATING SAID ARM MEANS AND SAID WEB HOLDER. 